Instant Family Continues a Trend Toward Realistic Portrayals of Foster Care

From Bambi to Frozen, Disney is no stranger to creating movies where parents die.

Annie is a classic that exposed the hard-knock life in an orphanage, and Matilda ends with the title character being adopted by her teacher. And the Emmy-nominated Judging Amy gave viewers a look at the role of social workers at family courts.

But Hollywood had never quite nailed the foster care experience until The Fosters, a TV show on ABC about a family raising one biological and four adoptive and foster children. First aired in 2013, the show was one of the first realistic portrayals of foster care and adoption in popular culture.

Over the next five years, This Is Us, Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Fire, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Instant Family and more have followed the same trend — one advocates are hoping will continue.

“We’re at this golden moment for foster care awareness,” said Jennifer Perry, executive director of the Children’s Action Network and co-founder of FosterMore. “There is a whole lot going on around an issue that prior to this really languished in the shadows.”

For the full story: https://chronicleofsocialchange.org/analysis/instant-family-continues-a-trend-toward-realistic-depictions-of-foster-care-and-adoption/32780